Tree removals and removal requests for insurance or building damage reasons
Dear Uttlesford District Council,
Trees that are near buildings are often threatened by requests for removal. These requests normally come from homeowners or property owners or their insurance companies after trees are alleged to be causing damage. In many cases these trees pre-date the buildings that are being affected.
I would like to understand more about how this issue affects your local authority and the trees you are responsible for (i.e, you are responsible for maintaining, or are on your land, owned by you, etc).
In particular, I would like to know, over the past 10 years:
- The locations of trees removed by your authority due to property or infrastructure damage, ideally accompanied by their species and the date of removal where possible (locations via GIS data, What3Words, OS coordinates, or addresses as you find easiest)
- How many of/which of these trees were removed due to claims or requests from insurance companies
- How much the council paid to remove each tree (if this can be attributed per removal, or how much the council spent on tree removal each financial year if not)
- How much the council paid out in insurance claims for tree damage to properties (individual claim values preferred, but an aggregate value may be acceptable if the council considers the individual values to be exempt from disclosure)
- The number of trees where removal has been requested, but was either refused, an alternative solution found, or the situation is still ongoing; any breakdown that can be provided (similar to above, e.g, species and location) would be appreciated
Please follow the following principles when considering this request:
- Data at an individual tree level is preferred, but where you consider this can't be disclosed due to commercial or legal agreements (e.g, insurance claims, contractor works) then aggregate data either annually or (worst case) over the whole period may be acceptable
- Some data is better than no data; for example, if data is only available for the last 5 years then that is better than refusing the request
Given this is a request about trees, this request falls under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) rather than FOI. This carries stricter time limits for responses and fewer exemptions to disclosure. Please treat this as an EIR request.
Yours faithfully,
Lawrence Weetman
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your request for information which Uttlesford District Council received on 9th July 2024. Your request has been allocated the Councils reference of EIR24_799
Your request is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act / Environmental Information Regulations and will be answered within 20 working days. In the event that your request is considered complex you may be advised at an early stage in the process that an extension of the normal 20 day timeline will be necessary and the reasons for any extension will be explained to you.
Your request will now be forwarded to the Service Area best placed to supply an appropriate response to your request for information and you should expect to receive your response by the 7th August 2024 , unless you are advised otherwise.
*Please note that following the advisory notice from the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) dated 28th September 2023, Uttlesford District Council has decided it will no longer provide excel spreadsheets in replies to either EIR or FOI requests. Further details on this subject can be found here .
If you have any queries about your request, do not hesitate to contact me.
Your privacy:- We use your personal information such as name and email address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests. For further details about the use of information by the Council please see our privacy notice on the Councils website https://www.uttlesford.gov.uk/privacy-no...
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Uttlesford District Council
Telephone: 01799 510 510
Email: [Uttlesford District Council request email]
www.uttlesford.gov.uk
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Good morning,
Please see attached the response to your request for information relating to tree removals.
Kind regards,
Amber Smith
Trainee Accountant
Uttlesford District Council
Council Offices
London Road
Saffron Walden
Essex CB11 4ER
01799 510542
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